COINFECTION OF HUMAN FORESKIN FRAGMENTS WITH MULTIPLE HUMAN-PAPILLOMAVIRUS TYPES (HPV-11, HPV-40, AND HPV-LVX82 MM7) PRODUCES REGIONALLY SEPARATE HPV INFECTIONS WITHIN THE SAME ATHYMIC MOUSE XENOGRAFT/

The athymic mouse xenograft system was used to prepare infectious stoc ks of two additional anogenital tissue-targeting human papillomaviruse s (HPVs) in a manner similar to that for the development of infectious stocks of HPV-11, An anal condyloma from a transplant patient was use d as material for extraction of infectious virus, and human foreskin f ragments were incubated with the virus suspension and transplanted sub renally into athymic mice, Partial viral sequencing indicated that two rare HPV types (HPV-40 and HPVLVX82/MM7) were concurrently present in both the patient condyloma and the foreskin xenografts, and passage o f both types was achieved as a mixed infection with HPV-40 predominati ng. Xenografts that developed from simultaneous infection of human for eskin fragments with HPV-11, -40, and -LVX82/MM7 virions produced regi onally separate areas of HPV-11 and -40 infection as determined by in situ hybridization, In addition, in situ hybridization with HPV-40 and HPVLVX82/MM7 DNA probes demonstrated that both of these HPV types wer e present as adjacent but separate infections within the same anal con dyloma of the transplant patient. These studies indicate that multiple HPV types can simultaneously infect genital tissue and that each HPV type predominantly maintains regional separation within the same papil loma.